How much did Meesho's founders take in FY2025?

Total FY25 managerial remuneration for the two whole-time directors was ₹1,408.74 Cr. Vidit Aatrey received ₹1,084.01 Cr and Sanjeev Kumar received ₹324.73 Cr. The annual return discloses the composition of each: for Aatrey, gross salary ₹5.39 Cr, stock/equity ₹500.63 Cr, other ₹577.99 Cr, commission ₹0. For Kumar, gross salary ₹4.73 Cr, stock/equity ₹163.29 Cr, other ₹156.71 Cr, commission ₹0.

Is this normal for a pre-IPO founder-CEO?

The cash salary portion is normal for a founder-CEO of a private company at this scale (₹5 Cr is within the market range). What is not normal is the stock/equity plus 'other' portion. In the four prior years FY21 to FY24, the combined founder remuneration was ₹1.80 Cr, ₹4.58 Cr, ₹4.74 Cr, and ₹7.28 Cr respectively. The FY25 total is 193x FY24. This magnitude is consistent with a one-time ESOP crystallization event tied to a liquidity event; the timing (year immediately before the May 2026 IPO listing) supports that interpretation. The audit does not explicitly label the trigger.

What is the 'other' component?

annual return discloses managerial remuneration in four buckets: gross salary, commission, stock/equity, and 'other'. The 'other' bucket typically includes perquisites, one-time cash bonuses, deferred-comp settlements, retention grants, and non-cash benefits. For Meesho FY25, 'other' was ₹734.70 Cr combined (₹577.99 Cr Aatrey + ₹156.71 Cr Kumar). annual return does not disaggregate 'other' further; the annual P&L does not carry a line labeled 'founder comp' since founder pay flows into the aggregate Employee Benefit Expense line.

Does this affect the reported loss?

Yes materially. FY25 reported net loss was ₹3,883 Cr. The founder-remuneration line of ₹1,409 Cr is 36% of that loss. The composition is largely non-cash (₹664 Cr of stock/equity is a non-cash accounting charge under Ind AS 102 share-based payments; the P&L expense is offset by an equity credit and does not represent cash leaving the company). The cash flow statement records ₹856 Cr of share-based payment adjustments as a non-cash add-back, indicating that the majority of the founder equity charge is bridged in the OCF calculation. Operating cash flow was positive at ₹543 Cr for the year.

What are the founders' shareholdings?

The shareholding-pattern schedule for FY25 shows three shareholders on record for Meesho Limited India: 1 promoter (Meesho Inc, Delaware, USA, holding 96.87%) and 2 public shareholders (residual). Founders' direct shareholding in the Indian entity is minimal at FY25 close because the equity is held through Meesho Inc. The FY26 audit, following the reverse flip and the IPO, will show a materially different shareholding pattern with direct founder holdings in the Indian entity.

Meesho's Founders Took ₹1,409 Cr in FY25. FY24 They Took ₹7 Cr.

What the numbers actually say11 metrics

Metric	Reported(Narrative)	Economic Reality
Vidit Aatrey total (FY25)	₹1,084.01 Cr	gross ₹5.39 Cr + stock/equity ₹500.63 Cr + others ₹577.99 Cr
Sanjeev Kumar total (FY25)	₹324.73 Cr	gross ₹4.73 Cr + stock/equity ₹163.29 Cr + others ₹156.71 Cr
Combined FY25	₹1,408.74 Cr	gross ₹10.12 Cr + stock/equity ₹663.93 Cr + others ₹734.70 Cr
Combined FY24	₹7.28 Cr	gross ₹5.28 Cr + others ₹2.00 Cr
Combined FY23	₹4.74 Cr	gross only
Combined FY22	₹4.58 Cr	gross only
Combined FY21	₹1.80 Cr	gross only
FY25 vs FY24 multiple	193x	combined founder comp jumped 193 times year on year
FY25 net loss (context)	₹3,883 Cr	founder comp is 36% of the reported loss
FY25 operating cash flow (context)	+₹543 Cr	the underlying operating business generated cash
FY25 share-based payments (cash flow)	₹856 Cr non-cash	bridges most of the equity component in OCF calc

The Six-Year Read on Founder Compensation

Meesho's annual returns across FY20 to FY25 make the FY25 event visible only by comparison.

Combined founder remuneration, FY20 → FY25Vidit Aatrey + Sanjeev Kumar, per annual return managerial-remuneration schedule

FY2020

₹2.10 Cr

gross only; Aatrey ₹1.03 Cr + Kumar ₹1.07 Cr

FY2021

₹1.80 Cr

gross only; Aatrey ₹0.90 Cr + Kumar ₹0.90 Cr

FY2022

₹4.58 Cr

gross only; Aatrey ₹2.28 Cr + Kumar ₹2.30 Cr

FY2023

₹4.74 Cr

gross only; Aatrey ₹1.97 Cr + Kumar ₹2.77 Cr

FY2024

₹7.28 Cr

gross ₹5.28 Cr + others ₹2.00 Cr

FY2025

₹1,408.74 Cr

gross ₹10.12 Cr + stock/equity ₹663.93 Cr + others ₹734.70 Cr

For six years the number stayed in the ₹2-7 Cr range, which is unremarkable for co-founder CEOs of a company at this revenue scale. In FY25 the number moved to ₹1,409 Cr, a 193x jump on the prior year, with the increase concentrated entirely in the stock/equity and 'other' buckets. Cash salary went from ₹5.28 Cr to ₹10.12 Cr, a normal ~2x increase for a company scaling toward IPO.

What Drove the Jump

The composition points cleanly to a pre-IPO event. Three signals from the annual return disclosure:

Stock/equity of ₹664 Cr. Under Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) 102, ESOPs and equity awards are recognised as an expense at fair value over the vesting period. For awards that vest on a liquidity event, the entire accumulated fair value is recognised when the event triggers. Meesho listed on Indian exchanges in May 2026, which is FY26. The FY25 filing (year ending March 2025) captures the employee stock option plan (ESOP) charge for awards that vested during FY25 or that were recognised in anticipation of the certainty of the listing event. The annual cash flow statement corroborates: share-based payments of ₹856 Cr recognised as a non-cash P&L charge (the founder ESOP is the majority of this line).

'Other' of ₹735 Cr. This category is not disaggregated in annual return. Typical inclusions are: retention grants and one-time cash bonuses paid on hitting IPO milestones; deferred-compensation payouts crystallized at a valuation event; perquisites tied to founder-executive status. The magnitude is unusual and represents the majority of the FY25 total. Without note-level disclosure it is not possible to attribute the 'other' component to a specific instrument, but the timing (immediately pre-IPO) and the size (comparable to the equity component) are consistent with a coordinated founder-payout structure.

Cash salary of ₹10.12 Cr. Normal. This is what the founders would have taken absent the crystallization event. It represents 0.7% of the total FY25 comp; the other 99.3% is one-time equity and 'other'.

→ What the timing supports

The FY25 jump aligns with the pre-IPO calendar, not with operating performance

Meesho filed its DRHP (Draft Red Herring Prospectus) in mid-2025 and listed on Indian exchanges in May 2026. The FY25 audit covers the year in which the IPO calendar was set and the pre-IPO ESOP restructuring took place.

For a company preparing to list, several things typically happen in the audit year immediately before listing:

Founder ESOP grants that had been outstanding for years vest in full (accelerated vesting on IPO)
Retention and 'stay' grants issued during the multi-year DRHP process crystallize
Employee ESOP pools are increased and re-priced to align with the pre-IPO valuation
Deferred-comp arrangements structured during earlier funding rounds mature

All of these produce a non-cash P&L expense in the vesting year, offset by an equity credit that appears as share-based-payment adjustments in the cash flow statement. The reported PAT falls; the OCF is unaffected.

Meesho's FY25 audit shows exactly this shape: ₹3,883 Cr PAT loss with ₹4,426 Cr of PAT-OCF gap. Founder comp of ₹1,409 Cr is the visible portion of this gap; broader employee ESOPs add another ~₹200 Cr; deferred-tax reversal of ₹2,487 Cr bridges the rest.

What the FY26 audit will show: if operating momentum continues and the pre-IPO crystallization does not recur, the FY26 PAT will be closer to the FY24 baseline (~₹300 Cr loss or better) rather than the FY25 headline of ₹3,883 Cr. Founder comp should normalize back to the ₹5-15 Cr range for annual salaries plus post-IPO ongoing equity grants. If FY26 shows founder comp still elevated, it becomes a separate signal about post-IPO governance philosophy.

The Broader Read

“For six years, Meesho's founders drew ₹1 to ₹7 Cr per year combined. In FY25 they drew ₹1,409 Cr. The audit records the composition and the timing. The trigger is the IPO, not the operating year.”
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Meesho's Founders Took ₹1,409 Cr in FY25. FY24 They Took ₹7 Cr.

The Six-Year Read on Founder Compensation

What Drove the Jump

The Broader Read

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